Review: httpeepee by Gender? I Hardly Know Them

In the introduction to httpeepee, an all new online queer comedy show by sketch duo Gender? I Hardly Know Them currently in the middle of its run on Zoom, members Elena Eli Belyea and Sydney Campbell mention that the show came about because social distancing made more traditional Pride celebrations impossible. Watching it live, I just assumed that httpeepee was a simple replacement for whatever performances they’d had planned in the before times. But as the sketches and reflections of this particular show unfolded, I realized that it was so much more than that. This isn’t so much a live sketch comedy filmed for an online audience as it is a response to the inability to have that original show, and a reflection on what Pride, queer community, and comedy can do and mean when people can’t enjoy them together in person.

This is most obvious in two segments that directly tackle physical distance from Prides past. Like the bittersweet monologue where Syd talks about the family obligations that prevented them from attending their first Pride as a young teen, and their angst-ridden artistic response to that disappointment. Or the video clip in which Eli pays tribute to roles that fan fiction and Livejournal played in their development and concludes that, in a way, their first Pride was on the internet. But that spirit pervades httpeepee as a whole. 

The delivery — a collection of videoconferences, YouTube Clips, TikToks, and even a Google doc edit delivered via Zoom, which allowed audience to cheer along in the chat box, and stick around for a virtual post-show hangout if they were so inclined — is an ingenious lo-fi delight. And the sketches and asides themselves — which tackled everything from flailing and demanding white “allies” and girl boss wellness speak, to the half-assed affectations of corporate Pride initiatives, to hallucinatory dreams about the Hamburglar, and interpretive dances to old poetry  — are as clever as their format. Alternately thoughtful, pointed, and joyous and almost uniformly hilarious, httpeepee is a celebration of and a testament to queer creativity, adaptability, and resilience in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds. 

httpeepee by Gender I Hardly Know Them, presented by Tiny Bear Jaws and Rapid Fire Theatre, runs until July 19, 2020. All tickets are Pay What You Can Afford at rapidfiretheatre.com/shows/httpeepee/